Physiology articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Wnt7a regulates various aspects of skeletal muscle function. Here, the authors show that a truncated Wnt7a protein lacking the palmitoylation domain retains its biological activity in skeletal muscle, suggesting that simplified Wnt7a proteins may be viable as Wnt-based therapeutics.

    • Julia von Maltzahn
    • , Radoslav Zinoviev
    •  & Michael A. Rudnicki

  • Article |

    The calcium-selective Orai1 channel regulates cytosolic calcium levels in a variety of cells. Here the authors use transgenic mice with muscle-specific expression of dysfunctional Orai1 to show that Orai1-mediated store-operated calcium entry promotes growth and limits fatigue of adult skeletal muscle.

    • Lan Wei-LaPierre
    • , Ellie M. Carrell
    •  & Robert T. Dirksen

  • Article |

    Nodal signalling has been implicated in the asymmetric positioning of various organs. Here, Noël et al.show that the asymmetry of the embryonic zebrafish heart is also established in the absence of Nodal signalling, suggesting a Nodal-independent mechanism that relies on actomyosin activity.

    • Emily S. Noël
    • , Manon Verhoeven
    •  & Jeroen Bakkers

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The transcription factor Sox17 is required for the development of the vasculature in vertebrates. Here Corada et al. show that Sox17 acts downstream of Wnt signalling and upstream of Notch signalling in the regulation of artery and vein differentiation in mice.

    • Monica Corada
    • , Fabrizio Orsenigo
    •  & Elisabetta Dejana

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hemichannels and gap junctions containing the connexin Cx37 are required for platelet functions such as aggregation and granule secretion through poorly defined mechanisms. Vaiyapuri et al. show that Cx40 is also required and can act independently of Cx37 in mouse platelets.

    • Sakthivel Vaiyapuri
    • , Leonardo A. Moraes
    •  & Jonathan M. Gibbins

  • Article |

    The kisspeptin receptor GPR54 is implicated in the maintenance of mammalian fertility. Kirilov et al.study GPR54 mutant mice and identify a subset of neurons in the brain expressing gonadotropin-releasing hormone as the critical site for kisspeptin action.

    • Milen Kirilov
    • , Jenny Clarkson
    •  & Allan E. Herbison

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mutations in the metalloproteinase Zmpste24 preclude prelamin A processing and cause premature ageing. Here, de la Rosaet al.create mosaic Zmpste24 mice, revealing that cell-extrinsic effects are essential for accelerated ageing caused by prelamin A accumulation and that prelamin A reduces invasiveness of cancer cells.

    • Jorge de la Rosa
    • , José M.P. Freije
    •  & Carlos López-Otín

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Endothermy facilitated mammalian species radiation, but the events leading to sustained thermogenesis are not clear. Here, the authors report functional brown adipose tissue in a protoendothermic mammal, linking nonshivering thermogenesis directly to the roots of eutherian endothermic evolution.

    • Rebecca Oelkrug
    • , Nadja Goetze
    •  & Carola W. Meyer

  • Article |

    Energy demand in muscle is largely due to maintaining the membrane potential of muscle fibres. Jimenez et al.study the metabolic cost of maintaining the membrane potential of muscle fibres across different species of crustaceans and fishes, and find that larger fibres are metabolically cheaper to maintain.

    • Ana Gabriela Jimenez
    • , Richard M. Dillaman
    •  & Stephen T. Kinsey

  • Article |

    Haplotypes in CNR1, the gene encoding the cannabinoid receptor CB1, are known to influence HDL cholesterol levels. Here Feng and colleagues identify rs806371 as a novel regulatory element reducing CNR1 gene expression and as the causal allele driving the association between CNR1 and HDL cholesterol levels in humans.

    • Q. Feng
    • , K.C. Vickers
    •  & R.A. Wilke

  • Article |

    The number of primordial follicles, which constitute the ovarian reserve, decreases with age. By overexpressing a constitutively active version of the transcription factor FOXO3, the authors increase the ovarian reserve and fertility in aging female mice.

    • Emanuele Pelosi
    • , Shakib Omari
    •  & Chris Ottolenghi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The gut microbiota produces metabolites such as short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which can influence the development of obesity. Here Kimura et al.show that SCFAs act via the receptor GPR43, which acts as a sensor for excessive dietary energy and controls body energy utilization as well as metabolic homoeostasis.

    • Ikuo Kimura
    • , Kentaro Ozawa
    •  & Gozoh Tsujimoto

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The protein spinster is implicated in Drosophilacourtship behaviour. Sakurai and colleagues identify two clusters of spinster-expressing interneurons, and show that these cells are required for female receptivity to male advances.

    • Akira Sakurai
    • , Masayuki Koganezawa
    •  & Daisuke Yamamoto

  • Article |

    Vascular permeability is increased by inflammation and in disorders such as acute respiratory distress syndrome. Mammoto et al. show that lung vascular permeability is controlled by the stiffness of the extracellular matrix and identify lysyl oxidase as a regulator of vascular leakage in pulmonary oedema in mice.

    • Akiko Mammoto
    • , Tadanori Mammoto
    •  & Donald E. Ingber

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Bone is a natural composite of collagen and hydroxyapatite but, surprising, little is known about its characteristics at the molecular scale. Nair et al. conduct molecular-scale simulations of mineralized collagen networks to better understand how bone achieves superior mechanical properties to its constituents.

    • Arun K. Nair
    • , Alfonso Gautieri
    •  & Markus J. Buehler

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Vascular endothelial growth factor is implicated in blood vessel development. In zebrafish, Hayashi et al. find that blood vessel development is dependent on the suppression of vascular endothelial growth factor by the phosphatase VE-PTP, which is recruited by activation of the angiopoietin receptor Tie2.

    • Makoto Hayashi
    • , Arindam Majumdar
    •  & Lena Claesson-Welsh

  • Article |

    Cardiac and endocardial/endothelial cells arise from progenitor cells expressing multiple haematopoietic transcription factors. Nakano and colleagues find that Nkx2–5-positive endocardial cells serve as a de novosource for definitive haematopoietic progenitors during mammalian embryogenesis.

    • Haruko Nakano
    • , Xiaoqian Liu
    •  & Atsushi Nakano

  • Article |

    Changes in the biosynthesis of fatty acids can influence tissue insulin sensitivity and the development of metabolic diseases. Eissing and colleagues show that de novolipogenesis in liver and adipose tissue is linked to metabolic health in humans and can be modulated by bariatric surgery.

    • Leah Eissing
    • , Thomas Scherer
    •  & Ludger Scheja

  • Article |

    Irradiation treatment for cancer therapy often causes irreparable damage to adult organs. Knox and colleagues study irradiated mouse submandibular salivary glands and find that restoring parasympathetic nerve function with the neurotrophic factor neurturin improves regeneration.

    • Sarah M. Knox
    • , Isabelle M. A. Lombaert
    •  & Matthew P. Hoffman

  • Article |

    Hydrogen sulphide is a signalling molecule with cytoprotective activity in mammals. Here, Kimura and colleagues identify a new biosynthetic pathway for the production of hydrogen sulphide from D-cysteine, which is shown to protect mouse kidneys from oxidative stress after ischaemia/reperfusion injury.

    • Norihiro Shibuya
    • , Shin Koike
    •  & Hideo Kimura

  • Article |

    Sexual dimorphism describes physical differences between males and females of the same species and is partly shaped by the action of hormones. Maekawa and colleagues construct mixed-sex chicken brain chimeras and find that the female reproductive cycle is largely destroyed in female chimeras with male brains.

    • Fumihiko Maekawa
    • , Miyano Sakurai
    •  & Hiroko Ohki-Hamazaki

  • Article |

    Splicing factors, such as the protein SRSF3, regulate mRNA metabolism but are hard to study in vivobecause genetic kockouts are usually lethal. Here, Sen and colleagues create mice with a hepatocyte-specific knockout of Srsf3 and demonstrate its role in hepatocyte differentiation and liver function.

    • Supriya Sen
    • , Hassan Jumaa
    •  & Nicholas J. G. Webster

  • Article |

    The flow of calcium into the mitochondrial matrix is mediated by the mitochondrial calcium uniporter. Fieniet al. apply patch-clamp techniques to mitoplasts isolated from different mouse and Drosophilatissues and find that the mitochondrial calcium uniporter activity varies depending on the tissue studied.

    • Francesca Fieni
    • , Sung Bae Lee
    •  & Yuriy Kirichok

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Heart failure is often a consequence of pathological growth of cardiomyocytes or cardiac hypertrophy. Here Ucar and colleagues report that the microRNAs miR-132 and miR-212 promote cardiac hypertrophy and inhibit autophagy in cardiomyocytes by downregulating the transcription factor FoxO3.

    • Ahmet Ucar
    • , Shashi K. Gupta
    •  & Thomas Thum

  • Article |

    Microscopic imaging techniques have a high spatio-temporal resolution but, in living animals, are hampered by cardiac and respiratory motion. This paper describes a microscopic setup that allows fluorescent confocal imaging of the beating mouse heart over a period of several hours.

    • Sungon Lee
    • , Claudio Vinegoni
    •  & Ralph Weissleder

  • Article |

    Vesicle trafficking in the cell is likely to involve a tug-of-war between motor proteins of opposing directionality. Guet al. use high-speed single-particle tracking in neurons to uncover rotation of paused cargo vesicles, providing insight into the changing forces as the vesicles change direction.

    • Yan Gu
    • , Wei Sun
    •  & Ning Fang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    To describe the biochemical composition of an organism multiple data sets must be combined and this information can then be used forin silico analysis. By combining metabolism and transcription data, Lerman et al. discovered new regulons and improved the gene annotation for the simple organism Thermotoga maritima.

    • Joshua A. Lerman
    • , Daniel R. Hyduke
    •  & Bernhard O. Palsson

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